Taste and Savour Juicy Gold the Cavaillon Melons of Provence

Celebrated Fruit – Cavaillon Melons

Nutmeg barely tolerates melons, in her opinion, the green honeydew version found in airport “fruit salads” should be outlawed. Watermelon and its variations without seeds or in ghastly yellow only belong on a picnic table with many children around.

The orange cantaloupe is the only melon that Nutmeg will consider eating. Like much of the produce in Provence, “you don’t know what you have been missing” until you have sampled one of the Cavaillon melons.

…Continue reading here to understand how this melon is a sweet mascot of Cavaillon. Originally, grown from seeds imported from Papal gardens in Italy, the varietal has evolved, but remains a celebrated crop in the region. Watch for details on the annual Féria du Melon – a summer festival with melons and equine games.

Not sure what to do with all those melons? Here is a recipe from Venise en Provence for a Melon Soup.

Cold Melon Soup Starter

This is one of my preferred recipes: it's very simple and easy to make but incredibly good and all your guests will enjoy it so much. Now...as the main ingredient is melon you should choose a really good one as that will make the difference. You might be tempted to add something, well...I did in the beginning, then I just reduced the ingredients at the minimum and that's simply perfect.

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Prep Time 20 minutes mins

Total Time 20 minutes mins

Course Appetizer, Soup

Cuisine French, Provencal

Servings 6 People

Ingredients

  

1x2x3x

• 4-5 small Melons Cavaillon variety in France, or Cantaloupe
• 3 tbsp Extra virgin olive oil
• Salt just a pinch
• Fresh Basil
• 1 tsp Dried red pepper cayenne or Piment d'Espelette if you find it)

Instructions

 

• Start with washing the melon then cut them in 2 ( try to make a nice cut if you serve them: equal and clean) and make some balls with a Parisian scoop melon baller, you can easily find it on Amazon if you don't have one.
• Calculate 5 balls for each serving, set in a bowl and cool in the fridge.
• Now you can scoop the rest of melon roughly and put in a blender though not all at the same time: start with a small quantity and then add the rest. Mix well.
• Add the oil, a pinch of salt, the red peppercorn and some of the basil and mix again till you have a smooth consistency.
• Taste: if it seems to you that it's a bit insipid add a pinch of salt and some extra oil and mix again.
• Store in the fridge and let it cool 1 hour, then pour in the half melons or in a nice glass or bowl, add the melon balls and some basil.
• Enjoy!

Notes

If you have the chance to find small melons you can present this starter as you see in the photo, otherwise I serve it in nice cups or glasses. This recipe is highly influenced by the quality of melons that you use.

Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!